Out of the Night
by fringeperson
Summary: Inspired by whitetigerwolf's fic Love Is Eternal. Harry is a Hero, and the Queen knows what must become of Heroes once their fight is over; they are to be rewarded, and then they must wed. She arranges that he marry a young woman who will need a Hero at her side - because this young woman has monsters to kill. HxI, AxS, I don't own anything. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

The war was over, the final battle won, and now the _real_ hard work began. Fighting a war was no picnic, but cleaning up after one? That was harder by far. Dead had to be counted and buried, and as if that weren't enough there were wills to read and estates to divide.

Harry James Potter, last of the House of Potter, also of the line of the House of Black, Leader of the Light after the passing of Dumbledore, Saviour to the Magical Society of Britain, and War Hero to the rest of Magical Europe... had dirt stains up to his ears, literally, from all the grave-digging.

He only stopped grave-digging when he received summons from the lawyers of Gringotts, when they had processed property division enough to be able to call him for _yet another_ will reading where he was a beneficiary.

"That's the last one," a voice said from behind him as he stuck his shovel into the earth over another grave, freshly filled, the tombstone clean and new at the head of it.

Harry turned sharply at the voice. "Hermione," he greeted. "What brings you out here at this hour?" he asked. It was barely dawn. He'd been digging all night.

"I got a letter," she answered. "Asking me to deliver another letter to _you_," she said, and held out the envelope.

Harry frowned as he accepted it, and carefully opened the envelope while Hermione cast cleaning charms over him. They were no substitute for a proper washing, but it scraped the dirt off.

"It's from the Queen," he said as he stared at the page before him.

Hermione nodded. "I know," she answered.

"It's a summons to appear before her," Harry said. "Today at noon."

Hermione blinked. "I'm not surprised," she replied. "You'd better clean up and get going."

"Yeah."

~oOo~

"I dub thee, Sir Harry James Potter, Knight of the Realm," the Queen said as she held the sabre steady in her wrinkled hands and tapped it on each of his shoulders. "For your services to our kingdom, above and beyond what anyone would, or should have asked of one so young. Rise, Sir Harry Potter."

Harry stood.

It was a private knighting. Only the Queen herself, the servant who had brought the sabre in, and Harry were in the room. He was glad he'd been able to buy a good suit between leaving the graveyard and reaching his home and bath. It wasn't a brand-name suit or anything, but it was serviceable and tidy, and for a knighting? Well, better than the dirt-stained things he'd been wearing before.

"Now Harry," the Queen said once she had dismissed the servant. "With that done, I would like to discuss some things with you."

Harry nodded in silent acceptance, unsure where this would be going.

"The editor of the Daily Prophet is an interesting man," the Queen said. "His publication is controlled by the Ministry, which is a travesty, but he and his reporters are not. He sends me a letter every week containing all of the _facts_ of what is going on in the magical world, not the gossip and rubbish he is forced to print."

Harry blinked. So that was the why and the how of the Queen deciding to knight him.

She smiled as she saw the realisation in his eyes. "Yes," she said. "And now, young hero, I have done what is proper as a queen by rewarding your efforts. Now, let me do what is right as a person by expressing a concern for you."

"Concern, your Majesty?" Harry asked, confused.

The Queen nodded solemnly. "You have become a rich young man very quickly, and a hero to the magical society. Any gold-digger worth her wonder-bra is going to be chasing after you, and the smart ones probably have been for the past few years already to try and get a jump on the others of her breed."

Harry's mind, involuntarily, flashed to Ginny. She had certainly jumped from boyfriend to boyfriend a lot before she'd latched onto him.

"And your society will expect you to marry," the Queen continued. "That is what heroes must do after all, when their wars are over."

"Must I?" Harry asked weakly.

The Queen chuckled at him, amused. "The people will say so, and your gold-digger will insist most pressingly," she assured him. "But I have a solution, of sorts."

Harry nodded slowly, showing that he was willing to listen. She was his Queen, of course he would listen.

"A Lord of my Round Table has recently passed, leaving his only daughter as head of the family. Integra is young yet, just two years younger than you, but in time she will _also_ be required to marry. The continuation of her line is important for the safety of the Empire," the Queen stated. "My solution is this: I want you to marry this girl. Not yet of course, but you will have time to get to know one another until Integra is of age. A marriage arranged by your Queen will keep the gold-diggers at bay."

Harry's jaw dropped and he gaped at his Queen silently for a moment. Then he snapped his jaw shut and bowed. "Thank you, my Queen," he said softly.

She smiled, rung a bell, and a new servant appeared with a briefcase.

"These are the details on Integra's family, estate, and why it is so important that her line continues," the Queen said. "Read these tonight, and go to the Hellsing estate no later than tomorrow."

~oOo~

The mansion was empty when Harry reached it, or at least, there was nobody at the gate to stop him or at the door to welcome him. The seventeen-year-old set his bag down – a duffle was easier to carry than a trunk, even a trunk with feather-light and undetectable expansion charms, which this bag also had – and pulled out his wand.

"Point Me Integra," he instructed it as he held his palm flat beneath the stick of holly.

It twirled around a couple of times before setting on a direction.

Harry left his bag by the door and followed the way his wand pointed. It turned him down a hallway, and pointed down a flight of stairs.

"Where, oh where, could you be?" Harry heard a voice calling. "Little niece... My precious little niece... My cute fraulein. Heir to the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, the Hellsing Agency, last and only daughter of that line. Inegra Fairbrook Windgates Hellsing."

Harry frowned as he tucked his wand away and followed the voice instead. That didn't sound like someone with friendly intentions towards the girl.

"Please understand Integra," the voice called out. "I've been waiting for my brother, your father, to die for the last twenty years. Then he gives the family headship to you instead of me. He made me nothing more than your steward. I have a right to be a little upset, don't I?" the voice asked, almost pleasantly. "Hellsing is mine!" the voice growled next, and Harry heard a sound.

Having lived the past seven years mostly in the magical world, Harry shouldn't have a great deal of experience with guns. His uncle did own a few though. Hagrid had bent the barrel of one, back when Harry was eleven, the shot-gun. Vernon Dursley still owned an old blunderbus he couldn't get ammunition for though, as well as a _new_ shot-gun he'd bought after the old one had been so thoroughly twisted out of shape. As well, Dudley had purchased a pistol not long after turning sixteen – when the War had really picked up and even Dudley had realised he'd need some way to defend himself against wizards who would try and kill him just for being related to Harry.

It was Dudley's pistol that made the same sound that Harry had just heard. It was the sound the gun made when Dudley was making sure it was ready to fire. The sound of a gun being cocked.

Harry ran faster, and finally spotted a group of three men walking down the hall, each carrying a gun in one hand.

His eyes went wide as, just a little way beyond them, he spotted a girl standing in an open doorway.

"Found you, Fraulein," the central man said. It had been him Harry had heard talking, and it was him who fired his gun, even as Harry drew his wand.

As she screamed and fell, Harry cast three spells in rapid succession. _Petrificus Totalus_ may have been a first-year jinx, but it was effective enough against muggles unable to reverse it.

"Hu-Who are you?" the girl asked as he moved to check on her injury, stepping over the men he'd just caused to topple to the floor like unbalanced statues.

Harry smiled. "Harry Potter, and if you're Integra?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Then according to Her Majesty's order, I'm also your new fiance," he said.

"Fi-fi-fi-fiance?!" Integra yelped. It was clearly news to her.

Harry nodded and gave an apologetic smile. "I hope we can be friends?"

Integra smiled weakly back at him. "Well, I think you just saved my life," she pointed out.

"I do have a saving-people thing," Harry agreed with a self-depreciating chuckled, then stopped as a new sound reached his ears, and slowly he turned. "Ah," he said.

"The corpse -!" Integra exclaimed softly, shocked to see it moving.

Harry smiled down at her. "The _vampire_," he corrected. "Her Majesty gave me a very tidy and comprehensive packet of information about Hellsing when she told me who she wanted me to marry," he added, and stood.

Without fear, he walked over to where the vampire was licking up the blood that had been spilled when Integra was shot by her uncle.

"Prince Vlad Tepes of Wallachia," Harry said firmly. "What are you doing on your knees, licking up spilled drops like a starved dog?"

The vampire stilled for a moment, his head and body still bowed over the spilled blood. "I _am_ a starved dog," he answered with a low, growling voice. "And I have not been called by _that_ name or title for a _very_ long time," he added, and looked up at Harry then. His red eyes glowed out of his pale face and from behind his curtain of black hair.

"Well then, dog," Harry said with a wry smile, "come and bow at the feet of your new mistress," he bid with a gesture back to where Integra had finally gained her feet again. "Follow the direction of her hand and be sure to never bite it, or I will make you suffer a far worse prison than this one."

"Quite the promise," the vampire noted, and looked at Harry with a measuring gaze, "for one so young. Though, I do believe you are one who could follow it through."

With his arms still locked behind his back by the leather straps, the vampire rose from his knees to stand at his full, impressive height.

Harry refused to be intimidated, and gazed serenely back.

The vampire walked over to Integra, and before her, lowered himself to one knee again. "My master," he greeted.

Integra narrowed her eyes at the vampire. "What did my father call you, if not your name?" she asked.

"Your father called me Alucard," the vampire answered.

Harry chuckled. "Quite the sense of humour," he quipped.

"What?" Integra asked, and tore her eyes away from the vampire bowed before her to her fiance across the room.

"Alucard. It's 'Dracula' spelled backwards," Harry explained.

Integra smirked. "I like it," she admitted. "Very well, Alucard," she decided, and then looked across at her traitorous uncle and his two flunkies. "They need to be dealt with," she said.

"I can do that," Alucard offered, a little eagerly, a dangerous gleam lighting in the pits of his eyes.

Integra scoffed. "I have no doubt," she allowed darkly.

~oOo~

Since the family retainer was away doing something on the continent, Harry set himself up in the room next to Integra's. This was the room he would be staying in until he and Integra were comfortable enough with each other, and old enough legally, to marry and share their sleeping quarters.

Not long after, it was time for dinner, and the set-up pair discovered just how extremely different two people could be.

"I'm _really_ not used to being waited on," Harry said plainly as one of the Hellsing servants (come out of hiding now that Integra's uncle was no longer stalking the halls with a gun in his hand) set his dinner in front of him. "Or sitting at such an _empty_ table."

"What are you used to?" Integra asked, taking the opportunity to learn more about the older boy that the Queen had decided she would marry. Integra, for all that she objected to the idea of an arranged marriage in this day and age, could appreciate her Majesty's taste. Harry had not only saved her life, but was very attractive. She was only fifteen, so that was a pretty important factor for her right then.

Harry chuckled. "Well, I'm used to eating at tables filled with my school friends, noise all around and having to translate what people are saying when they talk with their mouths full... or else I'm used to doing the cooking myself," he added, recalling meals at the Dursleys as well as at Hogwarts.

Hogwarts had house elves, yes, but they weren't servants the way the people at Hellsing mansion were. They cooked the food, it appeared on the tables at set times, and then you served yourself.

"And for the last year, I've been used to eating whatever I could scavenge to cook over a camp fire," he added as he recalled that fact, and smiled briefly for Integra. "But that was guerilla war conditions."

"Guerilla war?" Integra repeated, eyes wide behind her own round glasses.

Harry smiled. They were certainly an interesting pair, aesthetically. Him with his pale skin and dark hair, her with her darker skin and pale hair, both of them with round glasses on their noses.

"Yes," he answered. "I just won a war, oh, a few months ago now," he said, and blinked. Had it really been a few months ago? "I just finished burying the last of the dead yesterday. He was a good friend. He... it took a while to find all the pieces of him."

Integra blanched.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Harry apologised. "This isn't really proper dinner conversation, is it?" he asked.

"Not really," Integra agreed with a weak smile. "But it's better than no conversation at all, and the things that the Hellsing Organisation does... I need to be able to handle that sort of thing."

"Not really," Harry objected, and reached for the wine glass that had been – rather purposelessly – set out. After all, no one dining that evening was old enough to drink. "What you need to be able to handle, Integra Hellsing, is blood," he corrected, and drew his wand to slice open his palm painlessly. A spell for drawing blood that healers used. He'd never been taught it, as such, but Madam Pomphrey had used it enough times while he was under her care.

She always checked his vitamin levels, determined he was too skinny.

The blood flowed from his hand and into the wine glass, and when it was a quarter filled, Harry healed the wound.

"How...?" Integra started to ask.

"Magic," Harry answered. "I'm a wizard, it's genetic and I can't explain it, but I can use it," he said, and pushed the glass away from himself towards the centre of the table. "As I was saying, you need to get used to blood – and what vampires do with it."

"Is that permission?" Alucard asked, materialising by the table.

"Yes, oh starving dog," Harry answered with amusement. "If you can conduct yourself in a gentlemanly fashion, that glass of fresh _wizard's_ blood is for you. Virgin wizard, even, which I'm sure you will enjoy all the more."

"I will," Alucard agreed as he raised the glass delicately. He swished the glass and sniffed the liquid contained within as though it were truly wine, and then he took a sip. "You have been tortured," he said softly as he lowered the glass, a great deal of Harry's blood still in it. "Among... many other things."

"I have," Harry agreed. "Does it change the taste so much?"

"It does," Alucard answered, and took another sip.

"I'll not ask for the specifics," Harry quipped dryly.

"It seems that you are dining with us for now, Alucard. You might as well sit," Integra said. "Pull up a chair and join in the conversation."

Alucard smiled and sat in one of the chairs along the mostly empty dining table, the wine-glass of blood still in one white-gloved hand.

"Harry," Integra said, and then halted, trying to put her thoughts into a sentence. "You seem... very calm about dining with a vampire. The Hellsing Organisation is charged with the duty of keeping the British population safe from, and safely unaware of, the existence of vampires."

"Well, I am a wizard," Harry pointed out. "Something which I would have had to keep secret from _you_ if the Queen hadn't sanctioned my telling you. Besides, I was named godfather to the child of a werewolf not long ago. No, Integra, dining with a vampire doesn't phase me."

"A werewolf?!" Integra exclaimed.

Harry nodded. "Remus was a good man, a tired man," Harry sighed, "and now a dead man. That war I mentioned. My godson has no parents because of that damn war. Just me and his maternal grandmother."

"Is... is the child a werewolf too?" Integra asked hesitantly.  
Harry shook his head. "He's two months old and breaking things, but not transforming at the full moon," he answered. "You can't judge every werewolf by one though. Remus was, as I said, a good man. The werewolf that bit him, however, was decidedly not. The 'monsters' are as variable in their inclinations towards the ideals of 'good' and 'evil' as any human is."

Integra nodded in understanding. It was an important lesson to learn, and one that her father had also been teaching her when he finally passed on. It was a lesson that her uncle's actions had certainly driven home.

~oOo~

The budding, arranged couple spent the following week together, getting to know each other and settling into being in charge of the Hellsing Organisation. Harry had some practical experience with leading people, and Integra had been raised for it. Once they had arranged themselves around how the other did things, felt out the strengths and weaknesses, the pair were able to settle fairly well into a good working system.

Integra was more able to find needed information so that she could give the orders that needed to be given. In and of herself, she was also an excellent shot with a pistol, and had a fair hand with a blade, but she was a commander, not a warrior.

Harry, on the other hand, was a fighter, a man of action. He didn't do well when he had to sit at a desk and designate tasks or delegate duties, though he could sit over a map and plan just fine. He led by example and where he fell short he was a willing student. The men were shocked, however, when Harry turned to Alucard to teach him.

So was Integra – and she was the one to call him on it.

"I've had one truly good teacher when it came to lessons on monsters and fighting. He was a werewolf," Harry answered. "No one knew 'monsters' like he did. Now tell me, Integra, who would know the best way to use weapons of war, but the most experienced warmonger still haunting the earth?" he asked.

Integra chuckled. "You have a point," she conceded. "But I have to be Alucard's master, as a Hellsing, so I cannot be his student."

Harry grinned at Integra. "Well, while I'm still a Potter, and not a Hellsing, I can be, and I'm sure that I will need someone to practice with when I get better," he stage-whispered to her across her desk.

Integra smiled back. "I'm sure you will," she agreed.

So it was under Alucard's instruction that Harry learned how to wield a sword properly ("You really had no idea what you were doing with that thing, did you?") and how to shoot a gun ("Well, at least aiming your spells taught you a _little_, but aiming a gun is really _very_ different.").

And they spoke as two men who knew they would be living in close-quarters for a very extended period of time.

"The basilisk venom in your blood made it a little spicy," Alucard commented as they fenced. Their conversations may not have been classified as 'normal' to anybody who might have overheard, but they weren't normal men, either.

"Spicy?" Harry returned as he parried. "I'd have thought it would have lent a bitter quality."

"I'd ask how you even survived," Alucard said, "but the taste of phoenix tears is still in your blood as well. I have to ask, were you trying to poison me, giving me blood with such things in it?"

Harry scoffed. "Kill a vampire by giving him poisoned blood? That's a good one Tepes, really, and I'll have to remember it. No, it might surprise you, but I'd actually forgotten about that incident," he answered.

"Forgot?" Alucard repeated. "How do you forget such a thing?"

"I was twelve, and a lot has happened since then," Harry explained simply, and twisted his sword in an attempt to disarm his opponent.

His opponent was Alucard, however, so there were several seconds of shocked surprise from both parties when it actually worked.

~oOo~

Walter returned from the continent, and they went through another adjustment period as the one-time vampire hunter, now family retainer, had to get used to having Harry watching very closely the actions of the man who had left Integra Hellsing alone in the mansion with her apparently murderous uncle.

Integra noticed the way her fiance watched her butler within a day, but had thought it would pass as they got to know each other, just as the initial discomfort between herself and Harry had passed. At the end of two weeks of the same behaviour, however, she was thoroughly sick of it.

So, dressed in her nightgown, robe, and slippers, Integra marched out of her bedroom, into the hall, and then into Harry's bedroom. Without knocking.

Harry had just been reaching for his own pyjama shirt when she burst in, and was dressed only in the bottoms. All of the scars on his well-defined torso were on display.

"Yes Integra?" Harry asked, frozen in place as he tried to keep his tone nonchalant. "Is something the matter?"

Integra's eyes had fixed on the scars and grown large, but Harry's question reminded her of just why she was barging into his room at this late hour.

"That's what I wanted to know," she answered. "What issue to do you have with Walter?"

Harry sighed and turned to face her, forgetting for the moment about his state of undress or that she could see all of his scars. She'd asked him a question, and he was a firm believer in giving answers that meant something, unlike the ones he'd so often received from Dumbledore. However great the man may have been in life, he was still too damn cryptic for a lot of people's good.

"The issue I have with your butler is somewhat compacted by the fact that I am still often thinking like I'm at war, and as such I am very paranoid about suspicious activity," Harry started.

Integra nodded slowly as she accepted that, forcing her mind to stay on why she'd come in here, and her eyes to stay on Harry's face, rather than to let either or both stray to the many, _many_ scars that littered Harry's body. A visible reminder of the truth of his words. He was recently (a month and a couple of weeks) come from a war-zone.

"He left you, alone, in this mansion with a murderous uncle. He left you with no way to call for _timely_ help. He didn't even leave you with a weapon you could use to defend yourself with. Except for a vampire that your father had locked away in the basement. A vampire that, I suspect, that same butler helped to secure there, and knew the reasons for the securing," Harry explained. "_That_ is the issue I have with Mr Dolnez."

Integra blinked as she took all of that in. It was... a more worryingly valid and logical concern than she had previously supposed.

"Oh..." she said softly.

"Yes," Harry agreed. "'Oh'. But I thought, this once, it might be an idea to try the 'friends close and enemies closer' approach. If Walter were out to get you specifically killed, then there were more direct ways than leaving you to your uncle, and waking up a loyal vampire can't have been any benefit to such plans. If he is instead a _spy_ of some sort for some unknown party, then he may be a potentially excellent asset, as he will be the very picture of loyalty to keep his cover. If he has some other, unknown agenda, then everything he does must be scrutinised until that agenda can be determined."

"Harry," Integra said. "You're starting to scare me. I don't like being scared."

"I'm sorry Integra," he answered softly, and crossed the room to her, his hands gently wrapping around her upper arms in an effort to comfort her. "You just forget about worrying, okay? Leave that to me, and I promise I'll be more subtle about it. If Mr Dolnez brings it up to you though, direct him to me," Harry sighed. "Maybe he and I will be able to talk it out," he said with a slightly joking smile.

Integra relaxed and smiled back up at him. "Okay," she agreed, then looked down from his face to... "Harry," she said softly. "I know you said you were in a war, but... all these scars..."

"And a different horror story for each one," Harry answered softly. "You've had enough of horror stories for tonight though," he decided, and kissed Integra on the forehead tenderly. She really was growing on him. "Go to bed Integra," he recommended. "Tomorrow will bring its own new set of worries soon enough."

Integra nodded silently and looked up into Harry's green eyes again. "Goodnight," she said.

Harry nodded and dropped his hands from her arms, then stepped back.

Integra didn't immediately turn to leave, but looked up at Harry a moment longer before taking a step back towards the door.

Harry didn't know it, but Integra was thinking about how her arms felt cold now that his hands weren't over them, and how the spot on her forehead where he'd kissed her tingled strangely. When the door closed between them though, Harry returned to his bedside and reached once more for his pyjama top.

"I thought it was strange, how you accepted a monster such as myself so easily, yet were wary of the human," a deep voice said, rumbling softly out of the shadows.

Harry sighed, shoulders slumping, and decided to just sit on his bed rather than remain standing for _this_ conversation. "Yes, well, there it is. Now you know," he answered.

"Indeed," Alucard agreed, and stepped out of those shadows into the moonlight streaming through Harry's open window. "And... for all that I have known Walter since we fought together against the Third Reich, I will also take your warning under advisement."

Harry nodded. "You do that," he agreed. "Come for your half-glass of my blood?" he asked casually.

Alucard shook his head. "Not tonight," he answered. "I will be quite satisfied for some time on what I have received from you already."

Harry nodded in acceptance. "Well, if you don't have anything else to discuss?" he asked.

Alucard shook his head. "Sleep well, my lord," he bid with a bow, and disappeared into the shadows once more.

Harry rolled his eyes at the now-vanished vampire. "Such drama," he grumbled, though there was no heat and a fair amount of fondness in his words, as he finally pulled on his pyjama shirt.

~oOo~

Harry was completely pants at the mind arts, whether that was occlumency or legilimency. In all honesty, he blamed Snape for how bad he was, and actually was casually looking for someone who could teach him better, since they were so valuable. If there were other sub-branches that he hadn't heard of, then he suspected he'd be pants at them too (again, the reason he was looking for a better teacher). So when Mr Walter C. Dolnez _did_ approach Harry about the matter of the tension between them (as Harry had suggested Integra tell him to do), Harry did _not_ use legilimency to try and find out exactly why the butler did it.

Instead, he intended to ask. Bluntly. The Slytherin way of getting information subtly, without even necessarily the informant knowing that they were telling, would just give this man room to wiggle out of answering, as far as Harry was concerned. Besides, while he might have done well in Slytherin, while the house of Salazar might have helped him achieve greatness, Harry hadn't been a Slytherin. He'd been a Gryffindor.

"Mr Potter, may I ask why you have been watching me so intensely since my return to the mansion?" Walter asked as he politely set a cup of tea on the desk where Harry had been working on a letter to Hermione.

Just because he was getting married didn't mean he was giving up one of his last remaining friends. He had every intention of inviting Hermione to the wedding, and was sure that she and Integra would become good friends, if not fast or great friends. Hermione would probably have an issue with Alucard's enslavement, even if that enslavement was for her own good – and the good of every other person in the country – simply because it was enslavement.

"I have been watching you, Mr Dolnez, because I do not understand your motivations, and I'm a deeply suspicious person these days," Harry answered simply.

"My motivations?" Walter repeated, confused.

"Yes," Harry agreed. "Your motivations. Because really, I can't think of a single reason why someone who dotes on Integra as much as I have seen you do would leave her alone in this mansion with her murderously-inclined uncle," he stated, and looked the butler in the eye. "Would you please explain that to me?" he requested.

Walter blinked, but to his credit, he kept his mouth from falling open at the thinly-veiled accusation.

"Miss Integra was _not_ alone in the mansion," Walter answered at last. "I knew Alucard was here, having assisted Sir Integra's father, Sir Arthur Hellsing, in sealing him in the basement, and Sir Arthur himself told Sir Integra of him."

"I very much doubt that Integra would have gone running to the basement for help from a _vampire_ if she had known that specific detail," Harry said frankly. "And that does not answer my question. Why, Mr Dolnez, did you leave Integra with her murderous uncle?"

Walter gave no answer.

Harry continued to wait for one for a full two minutes, plenty of time to formulate a believable lie for most people. It seemed the butler had scruples enough not to lie to him though. Harry sighed and slumped back in his chair slightly.

"Mr Dolnez, _that_ is why I'm so very suspicious of you," Harry said plainly. "I thank you for not lying to me, truly I do, and I appreciate that you do seem to genuinely care for Integra, but your lack of answers is a concern to me."

"I understand," Walter said.

"No, I don't think you do," Harry answered. "Integra trusts you. To her, you are practically part of the family, and to me, it _looks_ as though you care for her to about the same extent. I, on the other hand, trust you about as far as I can throw this building. I have more trust in our resident Nosferatu and his motivations than I do you and yours. So, Mr Dolnez, I will tell you once, and _only_ once, that if you ever again do anything that resembles a betrayal of Integra's trust in you, and I find out about it, you'll be facing the problem of having your insides on the outside. Am I clear?" Harry asked dangerously. "You have used up your _one_ chance by leaving her alone with her uncle," he added for clarification.

He had said 'ever _again_' after all.

Walter snapped his heels together softly, and raised his left hand over the right side of his chest. "I understand you perfectly," he answered.

"Good," Harry said with a nod. "Oh, and Mr Dolnez? You are Integra's butler, not mine. Keep your fingers out of my desk drawers."

"Yes Sir," Walter answered tensely.

After that little talk with Walter, the atmosphere around the Hellsing mansion relaxed enough that the lady of the manor wasn't feeling an itch under her skin from things that weren't being said. A definite improvement.

~oOo~

"Integra," Harry called across the table at breakfast.

"Yes Harry?" Integra answered absently, preoccupied with the morning paper.

"I've received a letter from my friend Hermione," Harry said.

"This isn't anything new or unusual Harry," Integra answered frankly. "You receive a letter from her every Sunday."

Harry smiled. This was true. Integra had been completely fascinated by the concept of owls, of all creatures, carrying mail. Not little messages in tubes as carrier pigeons, but actual _mail_: letters in envelopes and packages of various sizes.

"She's decided that we've had long enough to get to know each other now, and is determined to visit and meet you herself," Harry explained.

Integra blinked at that news. "Oh," she said softly. "Well, then I'll look forward to her coming," she decided. "I hope she will like me, since she's practically your sister."

Harry nodded. The first letter had brought up the questioning on the matter, which Harry had answered to Integra's satisfaction. "I'm sure she will," he answered. "It would probably be for the best that she didn't meet our resident Nosferatu, however," he added with a pointed look at where Alucard was lounging in the shadows, having a last sip of Harry's blood from a wine-glass before he would retire to his coffin for the day.

Integra nodded in agreement. "Shall I have Walter prepare a room for her, or would you rather do that yourself?" she asked.

"Hermione can't stay quite long enough to need a room," Harry answered. "She's very busy these days, but she's determined to make time enough to sit down and have a meal with us."

"Lunch, I suppose?" Integra asked.

Harry nodded.

"I won't be an issue then," Alucard said simply.

"Bollocks," Harry said with good humour. "I know perfectly well that you're entirely capable of being out and about during the day Tepes. You're just more nocturnally-inclined."

Alucard grinned a grin that showed off his fangs, and didn't deny it.

"When will Hermione be coming?" Integra asked.

"Saturday," Harry answered. "I'll let the kitchen staff know."

Integra nodded in acceptance, and they returned to their breakfast in comfortable silence.

~oOo~

Hermione arrived at the front door of the Hellsing mansion after having to leave her taxi behind at the gate. She had permission to pass the gates and enter the property. Her taxi-driver did not. It might have been a bit of a cheat, but since she had been able to see the front door from the gate (just), she'd apparated the remaining distance.

Harry greeted Hermione happily, and was pleased to introduce her and Integra to one another.

They settled down at the dining table, and before the servants brought out lunch, Hermione asked Harry what he intended to do with himself now that the war was over, and Harry answered that he didn't intend to do anything with himself except be at the disposal of the Hellsing Organisation, which Integra was head of.

Integra had blushed, flattered.

Hermione had raised an eyebrow and levelled at flat look at Harry for his answer, utterly unsatisfied.

"Harry," she said, and suddenly her frown was _audible_, as well as visible.

"Really Hermione," Harry answered. "Integra and I have been working out how we'll divide the duties of running her family organisation, and I'm quite happy taking her orders, and it's not like I don't have piles of other businesses that I've inherited that I have to manage as well after all."

Hermione subsided, unsatisfied but aware that Harry could be just as stubborn as her sometimes – and recognised that this would be one of those times if she tried to press it.

Then Walter brought in the lunch meal.

"Not a word Herimone," Harry warned softly once Walter had taken up a post in one of the corners of the room. "No getting indignant about rights and equality and slavery. Mr Dolnez is well-paid for his services to Integra, and the position has lots of health benefits as well."

Hermione settled back into her chair, her metaphorical feathers soothed before they had a chance to get too ruffled.

Conversation moved from there to what methods the Hellsing Organisation used to discover and then hunt the vampires that were terrorising the nation, how Integra was adjusting to being head of the family, what Hermione was up to these days (carefully censored because Walter wasn't actually cleared to know about _magic_, even though he knew about vampires), and finally swung around to the impending wedding.

It wouldn't be for a year or two yet, but it _would_ happen.

"I think Fleur would be a good person to ask about the wedding dress," Hermione suggested. "She certainly looked spectacular in hers, and she designed it herself."

"She did," Harry agreed with a nod.

"As long as it's white," Integra said with a smile.

"It will be," Harry promised.

Hermione giggled. "For the traditional meaning? Yes, you don't have to worry about that. Harry's almost too much of a gentleman about things like that," she said with a smile, which faded into a sad expression. "I blame the Dursleys for that," she commented.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, so I don't have much experience of love or positive touch. I'm better now than I used to be," he pointed out.

Hermione sighed. "Yes," she agreed. "You don't flinch from hugs any more."

Integra was listening intently, learning more about her fiance from his conversation with his friend – not that she hadn't asked him a great many questions and received full and satisfactory answers herself, but there were layers to Harry that this conversation showed to her, since Integra could just _watch_.

When Hermione eventually left – she had returned to Hogwarts for her last year of schooling, which Harry had not, and had only been able to visit them because it was a Hogsmeade weekend. She'd apparated from the magical village to the outer reaches of London nearest the mansion, and caught her taxi from there – Integra fully intended to send a letter to Hermione with the next letter Harry sent her.


	2. Chapter 2

The wedding turned out to be an extremely private affair that was three years in the making, and in that time, Integra had left behind the pleated skirts she'd been wearing as a teenager and became a truly fearsome woman. The white gown she wore at the wedding turned out to be the last dress she would wear, or at least that she intended to wear. The day before the wedding, Harry had watched with amusement as Integra had tossed all of her skirts out of her wardrobe and ordered them to be given to charity.

They were very fine skirts, expensive cloth, but she would no longer be wearing them.

Her wardrobe was then filled with trouser-suits.

"At least she's not cutting all of her hair off," Harry said to Alucard with a shake of his head as they watched together. "I'd miss it. I'd adjust, but I'd miss it."

Alucard chuckled lowly.

There was no honeymoon though. Well, not of any descent length. There might have been no _truly_ serious vampire issues, nothing that couldn't be easily handled, but there was always training to do, skills to maintain, paperwork to wade through, that sort of thing.

Harry and Integra had been married for seven years when a report came in of a vampire in Cheddar, out in Somerset, a rough hundred-and-thirty-odd miles west of central London.

It was even further from the Hellsing mansion, which was to the east of the great sprawling capitol city.

In the three years that Harry and Integra had lived together before being married, they had settled into a good routine and allocation of tasks within the Hellsing Organisation. Integra, though from a long line of vampire hunters, mostly stayed at the mansion. She was the one to have meetings with the other Knights of the Round Table, and certainly she did not permit herself to be weak simply because she didn't go out into the field much – she and Harry sparred with the blade regularly, and Integra was an excellent shot with nearly every gun handed to her – but the leg-work was Harry's part in their team dynamic, and one that he'd really gotten into in the decade he'd been part of his wife's family organisation.

Even in this day and age, some people were still so old-fashioned and sexist about women being in charge of anything large enough to be called an 'organisation'. Having Harry be the 'public face' spared Integra the indignity of being scoffed at because she was female.

Which meant that Harry was the one who met with the man in charge of the police that had gone to Cheddar to investigate, while Alucard went into the village itself to deal with the vampire.

"I'm sorry, Sir Hellsing, was it? But could you repeat that?" the man requested, disbelief thick in his voice.

"I could," Harry allowed. He was now twenty, quite tall, and had had the benefits of lessons in 'imposing' from Alucard. "And since you seem determined to be deliberately obtuse, it seems that I must," he continued, just a hint of 'Snape-sneer' on his face. "The population of Cheddar have been turned into ghouls by a vampire," he said frankly, repeating himself exactly. "Since I sincerely doubt that _every_ member of the population here had been deflowered prior to the vampire's arrival, and the presence of ghouls indicates the presence of a vampire as well, they were probably raped before their blood was consumed and they were turned into zombie-puppets, dancing to the tune of their vampiric puppet-master."

"Bollocks!" the man answered with an almost desperately dismissive scoff. "Ghouls? Vampires? I'm no young sprog to believe in monsters that come out at night, Sir Hellsing. You can't possibly expect me to believe this occult nonsense?"

"Of course you're not," Harry agreed pleasantly, a jovial smile on his face. It quickly dropped in favour of a well-practised sneer. "The Hellsing Organisation makes _sure_ that cheap bureaucrats like yourself _don't_ know about vampires. We work hard to keep the lower-level peons, and particularly civilians, ignorant of the more unpleasant truths. The real truth about this 'occult nonsense' is strictly need to know, and frankly, Mr Carefully-Pressed-Suit, you did not, and _do_ not, need to know."

"What do you mean?" the bureaucrat asked, suddenly extremely nervous of the way the light of the tent was glinting on Harry's glasses and twinkling dangerously in his green eyes.

"I mean," Harry said plainly, "that the report you will be believing come morning time, is that Cheddar was unfortunate enough to suffer from a few terrorists taking up residence – your reason for coming all the way out here – at the same time as a surprise outbreak of some horrific disease. That is how you lost the men that you've sent in already, and I assure you, unless they are _incredibly_ lucky, they _will_ all be dead."

"Why would I believe a thing like that?" the bureaucrat asked. "And what about the situation in Cheddar?"

Harry smirked as he subtly palmed the handle of his wand. Alucard had turned out to be an _excellent_ teacher in the matters of mind arts. Then again, he had the benefit of centuries.

"The Hellsing Organisation doesn't just keep your sort ignorant," Harry said, ignoring the first question. "We also hunt down and destroy these monsters. By morning, there will not be one ghoul or vampire in Cheddar, and it will not be because of your police force. This sort of work is beyond them. It will be because Hellsing has sent in an operative who _is_ capable of dealing with the situation."

"Uh, excuse me," said one of the officers in the tent with them hesitantly, even raising his hand like he was back in primary school and wanting to ask a question of the teacher. "But did you say 'an operative'? As in, just one?" he queried.

Harry nodded. "I did. Hellsing has been dedicated to the eradication of these unholy monsters for centuries. We have refined our techniques. Cheddar may be swarming, but one operative will be enough to deal with the vampire and his army of ghouls," Harry said. Then he smiled. "Just like _I_ am enough to deal with every man and woman here," he added. "Thank you for your hard work until this point, now, it's time for you to all pack it in and go home."

Then he raised his wand and got on with the not-totally-pleasant-but-by-now-very-regulation task of 'correcting' the memories of the men in the tent. He'd already 'corrected' the memories of every person he had met on his way _to_ the tent, after all. Only those men and women who had been sent into Cheddar would escape his spell-work, and frankly it was unlikely that they would escape the vampire and its ghouls.

~oOo~

While Harry had been going through the police encampment and talking with – and subsequently memory-charming – the people there, Alucard made his way to Cheddar, through Cheddar, and out to where the vampire and his horde of ghouls were gathered. They had effectively surrounded the last living police officer that had been sent into the village.

Killing all the ghouls off was quick work for one of his calibre, and for a gun of the calibre he carried. The vampire in charge, Alucard saved for last.

"Wh-why is a vampire in league with these pathetic humans?" the vampire asked.

"Punk, think of the future," Alucard scolded derisively. "Without humans, vampires would soon cease to exist as well."

The vampire scowled and twitched slightly. In an instant, he had that last police officer in his hold and effectively acting as a shield between himself and Alucard. "This is the only survivor," the vampire said with a desperate gleam in his eye. "Don't you want her to live? Just let me go," he said. "Pretend I got away!"

Alucard smirked at the audacity. "No one escapes me," he said plainly, and raised his gun. "Girl, are you still a virgin?"

"Eh!?" she yelped.

"What the hell are you on about?" the other vampire demanded.

"I asked," Alucard said with a low and dangerous purr, his lips curling up at the corners and into a smile. "Are you still a virgin?"

"Y-yes!" the girl answered. "I a-"

The explosion of a round out of Alucard's gun cut her off as it ripped through her chest, and through the heart of the vampire that had been holding her captive.

Alucard was quick to follow up once the vampire released her, and turned his prey to ash before he turned his attention to her.

"The last to survive," he noted. "Such a strong will to live. I'm sorry, little miss, but my bullet made quite the hole in your chest on it's way through to that vampire's heart, and you don't have long left to live. You do have the time to make a choice though," he offered as he knelt down beside her. "What will you do?"

The girl was dying on the grass, a great gaping hole in her chest, but she still had the strength to lift one arm and reach out, though her strength failed her soon enough, and the hand she had been reaching with fell – into the waiting hand of Alucard.

"Tonight really is a wonderful night," Alucard said, and grinned as he leant down to drain the rest of the blood in the policewoman's body before she could die of the wound in her chest.

She passed out, naturally, but she would recover. She wouldn't be human when she next woke, but she would be recovered.

Alucard smiled to himself when he drew away, then slid one arm behind her shoulders and the other under her knees to lift her. She was limp in his hold, but she was secure as he carried her back to where the car – and Harry – was waiting for him.

Harry gave Alucard – and his burden – a quick once-over when they stepped out of the night's shadows.

"No survivors, I take it?" he asked simply, rather than berating Alucard as he knew Integra would have – coming out to kill a vampire, and then he just creates another one? Oh yes, Integra would certainly have berated Alucard for this. Probably would when they got back to the mansion.

"No survivors," Alucard agreed happily.

"How close did she come to getting out alive?" Harry asked.

"She almost made it," Alucard answered with a mildly impressed smile. "If she hadn't been in a state of shock after I'd stood up from being gunned down, and run when she had the chance, she might even still be alive now. The freak used her as a meat-shield," Alucard explained.

"Poor thing," Harry commiserated. "She's going to need therapy before we send her out into the field," he said firmly. "I hope you know that. She's been traumatised, and she'll wake up from having been killed. She's going to have some issues she'll need to work through before she'll be as mentally capable as she was when she walked into that village."

Alucard inclined his head slightly in acceptance of the fact, though the pleased expression disappeared from his face in favour of a frown.

"Oh, and Tepes? Since you now have a draculina to keep you company, I expect you to _stop_ flirting with my wife," Harry added, his tone both light and firm. "I know perfectly well you could have killed the vampire without hurting his meat-shield, so you _could_ have left her alive rather than claiming her for yourself."

"Will that be mentioned to Sir Integra?" Alucard asked with a hint of caution.

Harry shook his head. "Not if you promise to stop flirting with my wife," he reiterated with a devious smirk of his own. "I'll let you make up your own excuses to Integra. Now get in the car."

Alucard smirked again, showing off his fangs with the action, and slid easily through the door Harry had opened.

The green-eyed man followed a moment later, and the car took off as soon as he'd shut the door, headed back to Hellsing.

"So, what did you learn about the girl through her blood when you drained her?" Harry asked. He had made a habit of asking Alucard what he learned from the blood he drank every time Harry knew the Nosferatu had partaken of the red liquid. It was part of his quest to keep Alucard a little more grounded and aware of life beyond simply his own inclinations towards battle.

Alucard frowned and closed his eyes, concentrating on the _one_ soul he now had a taste of – and the owner of which was still passed out in his arms, though he had her cradled on his lap now that they were in the car.

"It seems that Seras Victoria has been a fighter for a long time, refusing to give up when the odds were against her," Alucard answered softly. "She is truly worthy."

"Or will be, once she gets over the trauma and back to how she normally functions," Harry corrected. "Tell me about her."

Alucard didn't open his eyes, but he obeyed the order all the same.

~oOo~

"What is that?" Integra demanded when they returned, and pointed to the bloody body that Alucard was carrying. "Don't tell me Alucard brought his dinner home with him, please."

Harry chuckled. "No love," he answered, and kissed her cheek. "Not exactly. That girl was the last surviving police officer within Cheddar, but didn't survive being caught in the crossfire between the pest and Tepes."

"That she'd survived that long," Alucard said, "the last one... I was impressed, and as she was a virgin, still is in fact, I was able to offer her a choice."

"You were sent out to destroy a vampire, Alucard," Integra stated calmly. "Not create one!" she snapped, yelling in his face as much as she could.

"Integra, love, hush," Harry soothed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Weren't you just telling me last night that there were more cases of fourth-rate garbage vampires showing up all over the place? Well, now we'll have _two_ operatives we can send out to deal with them, just as soon as Alucard's young lady there has gotten over dying and adjusted to her new unlife."

Integra sighed. "Fine," she allowed. It wasn't like she could really do anything anyway. Oh, certainly she _could_ order the new vampire terminated before she even woke up, but then she'd more likely than not have to put up with Alucard making a fuss – pouting – if she did. "I'll get a uniform made up for her and have Walter prepare a room in the basement. I leave getting her field-ready to you and Alucard though Harry."

Harry nodded and kissed Integra's cheek. "Of course m'dear," he agreed.

~oOo~

Alucard went out again and again on Integra's orders – hunting down truly pathetic vampires that were indiscriminately killing – and Harry instructed Seras, helping her to adjust to being a vampire. They'd almost-rushed through therapy, discussing the fact that Seras had died, been resurrected after a fashion, was no longer human, no longer limited as a human was, and they'd covered what would be expected of her as a member of the Hellsing Organisation.

They had also touched, just briefly, on what Harry guessed Alucard expected from her as a vampire – which included drinking blood. To get Seras started, Harry had bled into a wine-glass, just as he still regularly did for Alucard, and instructed her to drink it down. There was barely a mouthful there, but it was fresh and potent, even if he wasn't a virgin any more.

Seras had hesitated, had prevaricated, bit her lips and squirmed in her seat, but she hadn't taken her eyes off that little pool of red at the bottom of the glass.

"Drink it," Harry ordered.

Seras had gulped nervously, and her hand shook as she reached for the glass, but she _had_ swallowed it down. She'd also adjusted to having to the idea of having to sleep in a coffin, with Harry gentling her into it – as well as a firm order from Alucard and a little extra bribery in the form of a simply massive weapon from Walter.

"How's it going?" Integra asked over lunch, a month after Alucard had brought her home with him.

"She's ready," Harry answered simply.

"Good," Integra said grimly. "Things are getting... unsettling. I've called a Round Table meeting to discuss matters with the other Knights..."

Harry smiled. "The microchips?" he asked. "The situation with the ghouls?"

Integra nodded. "They'll be here tomorrow evening to discuss it."

"I'll up security," Harry promised.

"Thank you."

~oOo~

Walter was in charge of supplying the arms and munitions to Hellsing's men (and women), but it was Harry who organised security, dictated how patrols around the estate moved, planned the procedures for every eventuality, paid for Bill Weasely and a team to come to the Hellsing estate one day (when Integra and Walter had been out with Hermione, preparing for the wedding) to set up a very impressive set of wards around the expansive property... and it was Harry who had gone searching through all the journals he had been left by his father, by Sirius, and by Remus, and had created a 'Marauders Map' of the estate.

The non-magical, technological security and surveillance system Harry had set up was excellent as well, and had at least one person watching the screens at all times. Harry couldn't monitor the wards when he wasn't behind them, after all, and he was the only person on the property who was magical, vampires not included, and the only person with a wand, therefore, who could activate the Map.

Well, Hermione could, she visited fairly regularly, but she was busy enough with her political career, furthering the rights of those not 'pure-blooded enough' at the Ministry of Magic. They couldn't exactly drag her away to monitor security for them.

With a Round Table meeting taking place in the mansion though, Harry was on high alert in his office. His magic was attuned to whatever alert the wards might send him, and his eyes were fixed firmly on the Map that he had spread out and active on his desk.

Walter was in the basement with Alucard and Seras, giving them the latest weapons that, really, Alucard did _not_ need (however much he enjoyed them) and Seras was slowly learning to do without (though she got a bit starry-eyed over the big guns too). The men were all at their stations or training. Integra was in the conference room with the rest of the Round Table Knights, and...

Harry picked up the phone on his desk.

"Integra my love," he said when he got a curt 'yes?' from the other end. "We have visitors."

"_How many?"_ Integra asked tensely.

"Enough that I recommend evacuating the rest of the Round Table _now_, before they actually breach the gate. Of course, you're all secure in the conference room, but if things go pear-shaped, then you will all be _trapped_ there as well."

"_You think they really will?"_ Integra asked.

"Sheer numbers will go a long way to overwhelming even the best defence," Harry answered her seriously. "As we speak, they're launching a barrage of gunfire on the guards at the gate, and I dare say that the gate itself will be their next target."

"_Thank you,"_ Integra answered quickly, and Harry was treated to a clacking sound as she hung up on him, no doubt to get the old men she was meeting with mobilised.

Harry's next move was to make sure that all the men were aware and ready for the coming confrontation. Once he'd confirmed all their orders through their ear-pieces that were worn at all times when on active duty, Harry picked up his phone again and pressed the button for the connection down to the basement.

Walter answered.

"I need Tepes in my office _five seconds ago_," Harry informed the butler curtly. "And I want you and Seras to head up to the conference room even faster than that to assist in evacuating the Round Table."

"_Yes sir,"_ Walter got out before the line went silent again and a dark figure appeared in front of Harry.

"I dropped them off with Integra before coming," Alucard said. "What is so urgent my Lord?" he asked with a hopeful grin. "I didn't take the time to ask Integra."

Harry stretched out his arm and placed a single finger on the many dots that were gathering at the front gate. "Party crashers," he answered with calm, dark, solemnity. "Numbers are our enemy today Tepes," he said frankly.

Alucard whistled lowly, impressed at the veritable legion of ghouls that were making their way towards the mansion, led by two vampires, then he actually counted them, and frowned. "The men aren't ready for this sort of force," he stated plainly. "They would be turned into ghouls themselves, especially if they have to fight in the halls here. They'd be overwhelmed."

Harry nodded. He knew that. He had been working with the men, motivating them every way he could without revealing magic to them, getting it through their heads that they wouldn't be able to get by on 'good enough', and that they needed to be more than just security for a rich household. He knew exactly where they had their short-comings.

Mobs of _organised_ ghouls was one of them. And these ghouls were organised, thanks to the thinking of the two vampires that were leading the assault.

"I'm sure that they're nothing more than scrapings from the bottom of the dustbin, but even garbage can bury skilled shovellers when there's enough of it," Harry said.

"Your orders?" Alucard asked with a gleam in his eye.

Harry smirked. "Keep our men alive and my lady and her guests safe. Kill the enemy to do it if you must, but you're on defence this time Tepes," he answered.

Alucard's bloodthirsty smile fell away. "The best defence is a good offence," he said plainly.

Harry shrugged. "Integra is the one who yells 'search and destroy', not me, and you know it. Tepes, protect the lives in this mansion," Harry said seriously, green eyes glinting, as hard and cold as the emeralds they so resembled. "That is your order. Go."

Alucard bowed deeply, and sunk into a pool of darkness where he stood.

Hellsing held a funeral for approximately half of their number after the ghouls and invading vampires were dealt with. Two had been shot down while Harry was talking with Integra, the first casualties of the invasion who had been on duty at the gate. The rest had been careless, taking fright rather than fighting positions when confronted with the ghouls.

Harry was going to be drilling the survivors all severely on fighting vampires from a distance that was more likely to preserve their lives.

They also had a clue, however cryptic it may have been, as to who was this enemy that was creating vampires with technology and science.

_Millennium._

~oOo~

Harry called Walter in to his office.

"I find it interesting that you omitted a group who _you fought_ during the war," he said to the man calmly. "But managed to list a fanclub for a science-fiction space ship."

"An oversight on my part," Walter answered. "Alucard and I had killed them all -"

"Don't be stupid with me, Walter C. Dolnez," Harry requested with a sigh. "And please do not assume my stupidity either. By now, I really think you should know better than to do such a thing."

Walter stiffened slightly where he stood.

"I warned you once, Dolnez, that if you ever did something that resembled a betrayal of Integra's trust in you, you would find your insides on your outside," Harry said pleasantly. "Now, Mr Dolnez, do I smell betrayal in the air?" he asked with a dark, dangerous, sharp sort of purr that people were more likely to expect from Alucard than from Harry.

"I just wanted to fight _Alucard_," Walter admitted after standing a few moments under Harry's cold, emerald-green scrutiny. "In a war setting. It's an old grudge, from back when we were fighting them the first time. They caught me, and they told me they could help me _get_ that war to fight Alucard -"

The interesting thing about the entrail-expelling curse was that it was originally crafted for medical purposes. A person's abdomen was opened painlessly and the entrails spilled out whole and unharmed, allowing for a surgeon to see what was bothering his patient. Or for a seer to read someone's entrails and tell them their fortune without having to kill them. The entrail-expelling curse also very deliberately _didn't_ create a bloody mess when it was used.

However, there is nothing quite like the horror of feeling a draught against one's own stomach, looking down, and seeing one's own intestines dragging on the floor.

Walter fainted dead away when he was confronted with that sight and sensation.

While the old man was unconscious, Harry performed the counter-curse, as well as an air-freshening charm.

"You certainly do follow through with your threats," Alucard noted with wry amusement as he materialised in Harry's office.

"Quite," Harry agreed. "You heard that conversation, I take it?" he asked.

Alucard nodded. "I'll take Walter back to his quarters, and speak to him when he wakes up," he promised. "It really was a childish nothing, and to learn that he's held onto it for so long..."

"The pride of young men," Harry explained with a smirk. "Do you even remember what it was like to be young?"

Alucard's eyes darkened. "My youth... was very different," he said softly.

"I apologise," Harry answered, just as softly. "I forgot, for a moment, just what your history was."

Alucard shook his head, dismissing the painful memories and accepting the apology all at once with the single motion.

"How's your little draculina?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

Alucard's answering grin was positively wolfish. "She is proving to be an absolute delight," he answered with supreme satisfaction.

Harry nodded. "Glad to hear it," he said, and stood from his desk at last. "Well, Integra has a meeting with a representative from Iscariot this afternoon, so I've got to make sure the men know their drills before I get dressed to go with her."

"Oh?" Alucard asked, curious.

"You're not coming, Tepes," Harry informed the vampire flatly. "You'd only cause a scene. Get Mr Dolnez sorted out, possibly strapped down, then spend some time with Seras and get some sleep, but do _not_ make an appearance. I can handle Iscariot just fine."

Alucard bowed low. "As you command, My Lord."

~oOo~

"I don't like it," Harry decided in a neutral, bored tone after they'd stood in front of one of the paintings for a while, and slipped one of his hands into a trouser pocket to rest against Integra's hip.

Integra smiled at him, amused. It was her trouser pocket he'd slipped his hand into. "The art piece, or the meeting with Iscariot?" she asked.

"Either, both," Harry answered easily. "I mean look at this thing," he said with a gesture at the painting. "It's hardly an artistic masterpiece. The spears are all individual, I grant you, and the red back-drop is probably quite emotive, but the frame is more detailed than the painting," Harry critiqued, and shook his head. "No, I don't like it. As for this Iscariot business..."

"This place truly is splendid!" A voice with a distinctly Italian accent came, echoing softly down the hall, along with the sound of footsteps. "They have such a beautiful collection! That was the first time I've seen that painting."

"Really?" another voice asked.

"Si," answered the first, happily. Then the sound of footsteps came to a halt. "Oh my, it seems we're late."

"It does appear so," agreed the other.

Harry and Integra maintained their position, facing the painting Harry didn't like, but they were both watching the Catholics out of the corners of their eyes.

"Good afternoon," greeted the man in the purple vest, the one who had been admiring the collection, as he stepped forward. "Sorry for keeping you -"

"That's quite close enough," Harry said firmly. "If you please, skip the pleasantries and cut to the chase. What does the Vatican want with Hellsing?" he asked.

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" the man asked. "You're certainly not making me feel very welcome," he continued as he reached up for his glasses. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of Iscariot, Enrico Maxwell. It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

"Yes," Harry drawled. "I'm sure."

"What do you want?" Integra demanded shortly.

"Now calm down, calm down," Maxwell said pleasantly. "We didn't come here to fight!"

Integra scoffed. "You violated the treaty between Hellsing and the Vatican by sending Anderson to Badrick," she said.

"Where he proceeded to attack our agents," Harry added softly. "He even dared to launch an attack on _my_ person."

"Don't tell us you didn't know!" Integra growled.

"So what?!" Maxwell answered loudly, and crushed his glasses in his gloved hand.

Harry mentally noted that the man had a very short temper ...and it seemed to trigger when his orders were questioned.

"What do you mean 'so what'?" Integra demanded lowly.

"What makes you think your pathetic lives, or the Treaty, matter to Iscariot at all?" Maxwell said, posing a clearly rhetorical question, a sneer on his face as he looked down his nose at them. "I don't care if we kill two or two million Protestants."

Harry made a second mental note. This one was much shorter. It said simply 'psychopath'.

"We would never deal with Heretics like you, if we were not doing so under orders from the Vatican!" Maxwell said plainly, his distaste for them now blatantly clear. "So I suggest you shut up and listen, you pathetic Protestant Swine!"

Harry whipped his wand out and fired off a stunner at the yet-to-be-introduced companion of Maxwell before he performed a quick bit of transfiguration on the psycho.

"Catholic Pig," Integra said with a smile as she looked down at the small pink pig her husband had turned the man into.

"_Ignorant_ Catholic pig, even," Harry corrected. "Really, calling people heretics? I wonder if he even knows what the word _actually_ means. Now," he said with a smirk. "Are you going to tell us what you were _sent_ here to tell us, or do you want to stay like this a while longer?"

The pig squealed at Harry and stomped its feet before finally sitting down on the cold floor with a blatant, unhappy huff.

Harry smirked and reversed the transfiguration.

"Now you see, Maxwell, even if you _do_ have valuable information, _we_ still have the upper hand," Integra said with a smirk. "So get on with it."

Maxwell huffed again and smoothed his hair back. "Fine," he allowed, and produced a briefcase. "I was sent to deliver this to you. Every folder in it is marked with that same, single clue you have; the word 'Millennium'."

"And how do you know what clues we have?" Integra demanded lowly as she took the briefcase from him, her blue eyes narrowed sharply at the man.

"I think there will be some interrogating of personnel done when we get back to headquarters," Harry said, just as lowly. "Good day to you, Maxwell. I hope you enjoy seeing the sights before you catch your flight back to Italy. Do be a good piggy and run crying 'wee wee wee wee' all the way home, and go as quickly as you reasonably can," he bid, and manoeuvred Integra to turn her back on the man and leave.

Integra read the information in the car as they returned home, and of course discussed it with Harry as they travelled. When they reached the manor Harry was quick to find their leak to the Vatican and just as quick in plugging it. It wasn't Walter, as Harry might have suspected (the man was a traitor once, why not twice?), but instead it was one of the regulars who helped Walter with the research process. Walter hadn't known.

Once that was dealt with, it was time to hand out the marching orders.

"You hold down the fort love," Harry said as he kissed Integra's lips lightly. "I'll keep hold of the leash."

"I'd rather you weren't going to Rio with Alucard and Seras," Integra admitted softly. "But, I'm needed here and he actually _listens_ to you."

"Now, now," Harry scolded tenderly. "Tepes follows your orders as well."

"Yes," Integra agreed. "But he insists on me giving them in a specific way. It is unendingly frustrating. Especially since he doesn't play up like that for you."

Harry kissed his wife again. "Well, if it's any consolation, you have a way with the politicos that I'll never have," he offered.

Integra hummed in satisfied amusement, a content smile on her face. "Love you."

"Love you too."

~oOo~

When the private jet landed in Rio, Harry collected the single small suitcase that held a coffin in its bottomless depths (Seras had, in the end, been left in England to guard Integra, since Walter's position in Hellsing was a bit, ah... uncertain at present), and kept a close, subtle watch on Alucard as they left the airport.

"Really my Lord, I'm not going to go crazy," Alucard promised once they were in the limo that would take them to the Rio Hotel.

Harry raised an eyebrow and smirked back at the vampire. "Yet," he corrected, his tone actually fond.

Alucard grinned back. "Yet," he agreed happily.

Four hours later, Harry sat calmly in a chair in the suite they'd booked and considered the gift shop's catalogue while Alucard dealt with the local police forces that had been sent with real orders given under false pretences.

"What are your orders, my Lord?" Alucard asked, a mad grin on his face, his manic red gaze fixed on the last of the police officers still alive in the room with them.

"No flirting," Harry answered firmly before Alucard could get any further. He tended to run the mouth when he was feeling particularly battle-giddy, but Harry knew to nip that in the bud. "I'll deal with the cameras and the cowards. You busy yourself with finding the canary and making it sing."

"Sometimes, my Lord," Alucard said with a smile, "I love the way you talk. What about this one?" he asked with a gesture to the man who had soiled himself as he cowered against the door. "And his compatriots beyond?"

"Go, oh starving dog of war," Harry answered softly, lowly, though there was a hint of theatre in his permissive wave, and mischief in the curl of one corner of his mouth. "Your chain is loose, go bay your cry, teach man again his oldest folly, and declare _Invictus_ to be the solemn battle song of Hellsing."

"_Invictus_," Alucard breathed softly. "How appropriate. 'Out of the night that covers me' indeed," he said with a grin. "So," he said to the armoured policeman. "Are you a man, or a dog?"

The man brought his own gun up to his head, and shot himself.

Alucard frowned.

"A man," Harry said softly, and stood from his chair. "I'll see you at the steps. Go declare war, Tepes. That will make you feel better."

Alucard chuckled dryly.

It almost always did, and this time would be no exception.


	3. Chapter 3

Liberal use of the confundus charm got the pair of them out of the country without anybody the wiser. A couple more when they touched down at Heathrow, and they were permitted to leave the airport and take the limo that was waiting for them to Buckingham, where the Queen had called a Round Table Conference.

Harry opened the door to see that the 'Round Table Conference' was in fact taking place at a long, rectangular table. Integra was at the head of the table, with the other knights seated at the long side to her right, and... Harry barely kept from sneering. Maxwell of Iscariot was seated half-way down the other side. He had an older clergy with him, as well as a younger bodyguard.

Seras and Walter both stood by Integra, one on each side of her chair. Harry would ask who's idea it was to let Walter out again later, since this wasn't the best time or place for it.

The Queen was on the throne atop the dais at the further end of the room, looking out over them all. Harry bowed to her before he entered the room.

"Hello Love," Harry greeted with a smile, and moved comfortably up to Integra's side to kiss her cheek before he took the empty chair that had been waiting for him at her side.

"Hello Harry," Integra answered with a smile of her own. "Alucard, take off your sunglasses," she ordered lightly. "You're in the presence of the Queen."

Alucard smiled a gentle smile and obeyed.

"Present yourself to Her Majesty," Integra instructed.

Alucard nodded and walked up to the throne, where he knelt before the Queen.

"Still so young, Vampire," the Queen said softly, a smile on her wrinkled face as she cupped his in her weathered hands. "And look at me? I'm old now."

"You're still beautiful to my eyes, your Majesty," Alucard answered with a smile.

The Queen chuckled, and dropped her hands. "You're still a flirt, I see," she observed. "Give your report please."

Alucard nodded, stood, and descended from the dais. "Fifty-five years ago, an insane Nazi major tried to make an army of vampires. Walter and I put an end to his plans, but they never gave up. His research is about to be completed. They are the last remaining soldiers of the Third Reich: the Last Battalion. That is Millennium's true identity," Alucard reported.

"I see, you found out through Tubalcain's blood," a young voice said from just before the closed doors of the conference room. "The Major sure blew that one!"

Harry glared at the cat-eared child dressed in the uniform of the 'Hitler Youth' as he smiled at them all. Even when the Iscariot bodyguard and Seras both levelled their weapons at the boy.

"Hold your horses! I'm just the messenger! I have no intention to fight," the boy said, hands raised and visibly empty as he slowly walked towards the foot of the table.

"Who was in charge of security in my absence?" Harry asked lowly.

"My deepest apologies, my Lord," Walter answered, his voice shaking very slightly. "I truly don't know how he got in. Our defences were perfect, and are showing no signs of a breach."

"This boy standing in this room is a _sign of a breach_," Harry growled at the man.

"I couldn't exactly get Hermione in to raise a ward for us. She's much too busy," Integra said softly.

Harry shook his head. "Not her field anyway," he answered her. "I'm going to have to introduce you to a few other of my old associates. I really have been meaning to for _quite_ some time, but something always seems to come up."

"Whatever your security measures, they won't do you any good," the boy said happily. "I am everywhere, and nowhere."

"And at will, I suppose?" Harry queried dryly.

The boy grinned, extremely cheeky and very toothy, and that seemed to answer that. "Dear people of England and the Vatican, our commander, the esteemed Major, has an announcement," he declared, and set an odd contraption down on the table. "Please hear it," he added, and pulled a remote control out of his pocket.

It took a few moments, but eventually the device was made to work. The device peaked Harry's interest, as it seemed to be a technological version of the two-way mirrors available in the magical world.

"What is your objective?" Integra asked, once Alucard and the Major had exchanged pleasantries.

"Hm? Oh! You must be Lady Integra Fairbrook Windgates Potter Hellsing, commander of the Hellsing Organisation. What a pleasure to finally meet you!" the Major said with a delighted grin.

"What is it you're after?" Integra demanded sharply. "What is your objective?"

Harry lay a calming hand over his wife's. "Now now Love," he said softly. "We already know what they want. They want war."

"Ah, and that must be Lord Hellsing," the Major said with a happy sigh. "Yes, we want war. To ask our objective... it is truly a silly question, Frau Hellsing. An objective ceases to exist among us. We are among the 'idiots' in this world who don't care about objectives, as long as we can make our own path," he explained.

"You're insane," Maxwell said flatly as the display switched from showing the major to showing some of his vampire soldiers feasting on some old men who were wearing decorated Nazi uniforms.

"And who are you to say that, Iscariot of the Vatican?" the Major countered with a smile.

"He's one who speaks from personal experience," Harry cut across simply. "Though I'm sure there are any number of psychologists who would agree with him on this particular point."

"Haha! Very clever, Lord Hellsing," the Major congratulated as Maxwell became furiously, silently incensed in his seat. "We are the Schutzstaffel of the Third Reich. How many do you think we've killed up until now? 'Insane'? After all this time? You're fifty years too late to call us that. Alright, fine. Then stop me Iscariot, with your self-professed 'normal' ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, you are not my enemy. My enemy is England! Hellsing! No, the man standing there laughing!" the Major declared eagerly.

"Tepes, a little decorum," Harry requested blandly before the ancient vampire's low chuckles, carefully suppressed until that moment, could be unleashed in rapturous laughter. "If you please."

Alucard coughed as he forced his laughter back under control. "Yes, my Lord," he answered, but he was still grinning. He turned to the little device once more, and his grin stretched a little wider across his face. "That's a splendid declaration of war," he congratulated. "And I will be glad to annihilate you as many times as you want," he added, raising a hand to clench it into a fist, the binding runes on the back of the glove glowing brightly.

"We will never give up," the Major informed Alucard mildly, a smug grin on his own face. "We will turn around such trifling outcomes as many times as it takes. Herr und Frau Hellsing, I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield," he said, and gave them a last wave before the picture cut out.

The boy, Warrant Officer Schrodinger, according to the Major, then collected up the device, gave them all a cheeky, irreverent salute, and vanished where he stood.

"Lord and Lady Hellsing, Alucard," the Queen said, and looked over to Seras. "Seras Victoria," she added with a smile.

All four stood to attention before her, knowing that orders were about to be issued. Alucard was the only one smiling at the prospect though.

"This is an order," the Queen said, as if there had been any doubt. Her kind eyes flashed with coldness and the lines of age around her eyes tightened. Her voice was sharp and hard when she gave the order. "Shoot. Them. Down."

~oOo~

"Have you ever heard of the concept that a vampire must be _invited in_, before they can enter another's home?" Harry asked Integra as he studied again the plans of the Hellsing Estate – including both the grounds and the building.

"Heard of it," Integra agreed. "It's a load of trollop though," she added unhappily.

"Mm," Harry acknowledged. "What if, though, what if I could set up a ward around the property that would keep out uninvited guests?" he asked.

Integra raised an eyebrow at her husband. "Is it even possible for a ward to make such a distinction?" she queried in return.

Harry sighed in frustration. "I don't know," he admitted. "I'm going to have to talk to Bill, and maybe the goblins."

Integra blinked. "Goblins?" she asked.

Harry chuckled. "All these years, and I can still surprise you when I talk about every-day matters of the magical world," he said with a smile. "Yes, goblins, Love. They run Gringotts Bank, and are very restricted by the Ministry in what they may and may not do, but they know a thing or fifty about security measures. Bill's a friend of mine, worked for the goblins as a curse-breaker for a while. He may not be the best at putting wards up, but he knows about weak points and pulling them down, so he'll be able to test what _I_ put up, and chances are good he'll have a few ideas to help me improve the wards at the same time."

"I look forward to meeting him," Integra decided.

Harry chuckled. "Forewarned, he might bring his wife Fleur with him, when I get him here," he said. Despite numerous suggestions over the years, Fleur and Integra had still not met. The couple hadn't even been able to come to the wedding, as they'd been relocated temporarily for a dig. "She knows her way around wards and security measures too, so I'll welcome the extra help, but, Integra, remember that _you_ have my heart, when you meet her, and Fleur is completely besotted with her own husband."

Integra frowned. "Harry?" she asked lowly. "Why are you telling me this?"

"You'll know when you meet her," Harry said. "It's difficult to explain... and actually, now that I think about it, maybe Seras would benefit from meeting her."

"Do I even want to know where that line of thinking is coming from, or going?" Integra queried warily.

Harry chuckled. "A glass of Fleur might help the young draculina better handle Tepes," he said, amused at the idea of Seras smiling and controlling her master with the allure of a veela. The girl already had a lovely body (even half-blind, Harry could see that), and Alucard _was_ fond of the girl already...

Harry chuckled again at the thought.

"Harry, you're not exactly inspiring confidence right now," Integra informed her husband flatly.

"Sorry Love," he answered with an utterly unrepentant smile. "Onto other matters, I was surprised to see Walter at the meeting yesterday."

"I was surprised to learn my butler had been strapped to his bed by Alucard under your orders," Integra countered. "Though the _reasons_ for that action being taken surprised and disturbed me even more," she added in unhappy admission.

Harry kissed his wife tenderly. "Sorry Love," he said softly.

Integra nodded in acceptance. "You were right," she answered, her own voice quiet. "But Alucard made a start straightening him out before you left, and Seras and I finished what he started. Walter has been providing us with a bit more information as well."

"That's good," Harry allowed. "But can he be trusted?"

"He can," Integra asserted with a gentle smile. "He doesn't particularly want to get on your bad side again, now that you finally crumbled and revealed your status as a wizard to him."

"Fortunately, this estate is my home, and the Ministry doesn't track the use of magic in the home of a wizard, even if it is also frequently trafficked by people who don't know about magic. That we run an anti-vampire organisation also gives me a good deal more lee-way."

Integra chuckled.

Harry kissed her lips lightly. "You're going to be busy in London until this is over, aren't you Love?" he asked, a little sadly.

Integra nodded. "I'm afraid so. I received news already that we've lost contact with the aircraft carrier _Eagle_, just off Wales."

"Probably them," Harry noted.

Integra nodded in agreement. "But Walter's loyalty is guaranteed now, and both you and Alucard can come to me without any difficulty if it should be needed."

Harry sighed, but accepted this as truth. "Well, go to London in the morning, stay with your husband tonight," he requested.

Integra smiled, but shook her head. "I have to be there in an hour."

Harry pouted.

Integra chuckled. "You're going to have your hands full while I'm gone," she pointed out. "You're going to have to warn the magical community of the vampire invasion, after all."

Harry groaned at the reminder.

"Best make the most of the time until then," Integra suggested in a whisper against his ear, a sultry smile on her face.

Harry laughed and swept her up into his arms, kissing her soundly, much to Integra's delight.

~oOo~

Harry picked up the phone in his office.

"_Harry, can an aircraft be spelled to withstand artillery?"_ Integra's voice asked intently.

"That depends on the weight of the artillery," Harry answered, not wasting time with flirting with his wife. Bill and Fleur were also seated at his desk, going over plans and ideas of how the estate's wards could be further enhanced, with Alucard and Seras occasionally joining in the conversation with questions and ideas of their own – while Seras slowly sipped at a glass of Fleur's blood, and Alucard indulged in some of Bill's.

"_We need to get Alucard onto the _Eagle_, but of course it has all the ordinance of an aircraft carrier, as well as a 'magic bullet',"_ Integra explained.

"Magic bullet?" Harry repeated lowly, curious and wary all at once.

"_One shot from a musket and two choppers were shot down from a rather considerable distance. Unfortunately, we can't just leave them alone,"_ Integra further expounded.

"Love, if we have exact co-ordinates, I can apparate Alucard out there," Harry pointed out.

"_No,"_ Integra insisted. _"That would put you at unnecessary risk while Alucard deals with the problem."_

"Oh, fine. Pick a good, fast plane and have it on our landing strip in half an hour, along with co-ordinates. I'll see that Alucard will be on the _Eagle_ in no more than an hour," Harry promised.

"_Thank you Harry,"_ Integra said gratefully.

"Love you," Harry farewelled, and hung up when she did.

"I'm going where?" Alucard asked.

"Aircraft carrier off Wales," Harry answered shortly. "Do try not to revel in the nostalgia _too_ much when you bring another ghost-ship up the Thames, Tepes," he added with a smirk.

Alucard threw back his head and laughed with manic delight.

Another call came, an hour after Alucard had left for the aircraft carrier.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"_Harry, make sure the queen gets out."_

"Of course Love," he answered easily. "But I thought that was someone else's job."

"_It is, but I want you to make sure,"_ Integra replied. _"Harry... it's begun."_

"What's the latest?"

"_A fleet of airships have been sighted, heading for London."_

Harry winced. "That's a bloodbath waiting to happen," he pointed out.

"_How are the estate defences?"_

"As perfect as we can make them," was Harry's prompt response.

"_Any word from Alucard?"_

"Tepes should be bringing the _Eagle_ up the river within the next couple of hours. Do you want me to tell him to step on it?"

"_Please. And... Harry, if I don't make it out of this alive..."_

"Integra, you _will_ make it out of this alive," Harry insisted flatly. "You have your emergency portkey, don't you? If you need to come back to the estate, use that. If you need to return to London after you've come, then I'll apparate us there. It's that simple."

Integra sighed down the line. _"I love you, Harry."_

"Love you too, Integra."

She hung up, and Harry did the same, then conjured his patronus. "Tell Tepes he's missing the war," he requested of the pearly-white stag.

The great beast nodded shortly, turned and leapt at the wall, where it vanished, gone with its message.

"Seras!" Harry called out as he stood from his desk.

The girl had long ago gone to make sure her weapons were clean and all of her ammunition for them was at the ready.

"Sir!" she said, as she rose from the shadows before his desk, rigid in a sharp and business-like salute.

"It's begun," Harry informed her shortly. "I'm going to raise the anti-vampire wards Bill and Fleur helped me lay down earlier this evening. It will be a little uncomfortable for you to stay here while they're up."

"Awaiting orders, Sir," Seras stated plainly.

"You are going to London. Take the men and all the munitions you can carry. Your task is to mete out mercy and justice. Lay ghouls to rest and kill the enemy. Defend the living if you can."

"Yessir."

"Tepes will join you before long," Harry added.

Seras smiled happily at the prospect. She hadn't gotten to fight alongside her master very much at all really. She was looking forward to getting the chance to finally do so.

Harry chuckled. "I'll hold down the fort here, just in case, but the building _should_ be secure. All the same, if I come to London, you'll know about it."

"Sir, yessir," Seras agreed.

"Go."

Seras grinned with cheeky confidence. Yep, Fleur's blood had been good for the girl, just as Harry had known it would be. "Gone, Sir," she said, and sank back down through the floor, still smiling.

~oOo~

Harry sighed. He was the only person left on the ancestral property of his wife's family now. A truly rare occurrence. He pushed himself away from his desk and strolled through the building at a sedate pace. A pace that let him spell each window-pane to be unbreakable as he walked. Without quite meaning to, Harry travelled the halls until he reached the nursery.

It was a commonly held misconception that the conference room was the best defended room in the whole building. In fact, while it _was_ very easily turned into a safe-room against intruders, the safest room was the nursery.

The nursery that, in ten years, had never been filled.

At first, they'd thought themselves too young, too close to being children themselves to be able to be ready to be parents, though Harry had a godson. Teddy lived with Andromeda though, and Harry visited with the boy every other weekend, work-permitting. The boy would be in his first year at Hogwarts by now.

Five years ago though, they'd started trying. Integra had miscarried twice, so there was some periods where Integra couldn't even stand to be touched, let alone to try again.

They'd picked out names for the little ones that hadn't made it. Gender neutral names, since they hadn't lived long enough to develop tells.

The first miscarry was called Robin Fairbrook Windgates Potter Hellsing. The child wouldn't have been given such a name if it had come to term. 'Robin' was a nice name, but it didn't carry the weight that a Hellsing needed. Morgan Fairbrook Wingates Potter Hellsing, the name they had given to the second miscarry, had more weight to it, but it still wasn't quite right for a living scion of the Hellsing name.

An explosion beyond the walls drew Harry's attention from thoughts of the children he and Integra had _not_ been able to yet bring into this world. From the fears that she may yet die out there, without an heir to carry on the bond that Hellsing had over Alucard.

Harry's friendship with the vampires might be enough until he could forge a new bond of blood and magic, but he did not want to think of what would have to come after if Integra fell out there.

Fortunately, there was a distraction at the front gates, trying to get in.

Harry smirked as he looked out the window.

Trying, and failing.

~oOo~

"Harry?" Integra called, her voice breathy.

Harry turned sharply from where he'd been watching the futile attempts of the enemy to breach the ward-line. Not even their bullets made it across. Hell, their bullets bounced back at them.

"Integra!" he answered, and moved quickly to wrap his arms around her. "Are you alright?" he asked as he ran his hands up and down her, seeking out any holes in her clothes, any tears, any damp or sticky patches.

"I'm fine," Integra said. "Just a broken nose from when the car crashed."

Harry stepped back and brought his wand up. A quick flick and the break was straightened, healed, and the blood cleaned away.

"Crashed?" he repeated carefully.

"Walter asked me to take the wheel while he faced one of the enemy... I think he may have decided to defect completely... and then the enemy tracked me. I killed one of them as soon as I stepped out of the car, and I would have killed more of them, but then Anderson was there as well, laughing in my face and declaring me a 'worthy' enemy. I felt it safer to make myself scarce when they started talking about taking me into custody after they'd finished killing the vampires in the area and turned their guns on me. How are things here?"

"There'll be dessert for Tepes when he's done gorging on the war in London," Harry replied wryly with a gesture to the view out the window. "But otherwise, all quiet on the home front. They can't get in, and I haven't cared to cull them yet."

Integra nodded. "I think the major will most likely land in London," she said. "I mean, he probably _intends_ to come here, but somehow I think he won't make it," she added with a slight smile. "Our men, under Seras, are making excellent work of protecting the Londoners and killing the _two_ armies that have invaded the city. Alucard still hadn't reached the fighting, last I knew."

"Two?" Harry echoed back, a little incredulous.

"Iscariot, Maxwell, has brought several companies worth of Catholic soldiers," Integra explained softly. "They're killing 'heathens' as gladly as they're killing the vampires, so it's two armies against us, and those two armies are only very slightly against each other."

Harry took a deep breath. "Time to get out the dragon-hide and have our Dracula force them all into submission then, hmm?" he suggested.

"Indeed," Integra agreed. "He'll want me to yell 'search and destroy' at him... and I need more bullets," she added.

Harry kissed her temple. "Of course you do," he said with amusement.

~oOo~

"Lord Harry, Lady Integra," Seras greeted.

Harry had apparated the two of them to Trafalgar Square, and the young draculina had arrived seconds after, quickly clearing the square of the enemy vampires that were having a snack there.

"Report," Harry requested.

"Master is, at this very moment, coming up the River Thames," Seras said happily, but then the smile slipped away. "Unfortunately, though the men had improved, they were still overwhelmed by sheer numbers. We saved and evacuated as many as we could, and the Queen _is_ confirmed safe," she added with a look to Integra, "but all that remains of Hellsing, all that remains of any Englisher alive still in London, are the four of us," she explained, and pulled a face. "And two of us don't quite count..." she added.

Harry nodded in acceptance, a hint of a smile on his face, even despite the circumstances.

"Very well," Integra said solemnly. "Seras, you stay with us until Alucard -"

"My Lord, Harry Hellsing! My Master, Integra Hellsing! Give me your orders!" Alucard's voice echoed and resonated through all three of them.

Integra smirked. "Take heed, Alucard," she said softly, knowing that he would still hear her. "Here are your orders: your silver gun shall stain the white army crimson. Your iron gun shall stain the black army scarlet. I would know my foes by the stains of red you leave upon their chests!" she declared, slowly building up to a furious yell. "Now search and destroy! Search and destroy! Run them down! Do not let any of them leave the island alive!"

"My Master," Alucard's voice seemed to purr, and Harry could hear the content smile – content, not crazed or satisfied or eager, but content. "It shall be done as you command."

"Release control-art restriction: zero! Say the words and release your full power! Now!" Integra barked out across London.

"Go to him," Harry said softly to Seras. "And recite _Invictus_ as you go," he added with a cheeky smirk. "We'll be fine."

Seras nodded, and leapt away.

"I am the bird of Hermes," the soft words echoed out across the silent battlefield. A great groaning came from the ship he had ridden up the Thames, and a weight fell over everybody as they _felt_ the coming of the inevitable – and then they realised that they _had_ to stop it, somehow.

"Here standeth the bird of Hermes! Eating my own wings!" Alucard declared.

And then the battlefield, which had been tensely silent before as his words echoed out, erupted, led by a yell from Anderson.

"... To keep... myself tame..." Alucard finished softly, but still, those of Hellsing all heard him.

"My love," Harry said, calling Integra's attention to his person. "Is _that_ the Major Idiot's blimp?" he asked, and pointed to the black-and-red thing in the sky.

"It is," Integra answered.

Harry nodded in satisfaction and whipped up his wand. A blasting curse on his lips.

~oOo~

Soon, the streets were emptied of the living. Pikes were raised with the dead hanging from them, blocking out the coming dawn.

Alucard and Seras came before Harry and Integra with solemnity. Alucard was truly and only himself for the first time in centuries, and Seras had been among the army he had sent out, slaughtering all in her path as she repeated, over and over, the famous words of William Ernest Henley.

"Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever God may be, for my unconquerable soul," Seras murmured softly as she knelt in front of Harry.

"In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed," Harry answered her, claiming the next verse as his own.

Alucard, no, Vlad Tepes, picked up the next verse. "Beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms but the Horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find, me unafraid," he recited with quiet gravity and the accent of his homeland.

"It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul," Integra finished. "My count," she greeted. "You have returned."

"At your pleasure, my Lady," the armour-wearing No-Life-King replied.

"Alucard!" a new voice yelled in fury.

"Ah!" Harry chirped, a grin on his face as he whipped up his wand. "Anderson! What excellent timing!" he declared as he froze the man in mid-air, and directed him to the ground some ten feet from the rest of them. "Would you be so good as to officiate a marriage, before you continue with making war? You were Catholic, weren't you, Tepes?" Harry asked lightly.

"Yes, my Lord," the Nosferatu answered, and rose slowly to his feet. He then turned to Seras and offered her both of his hands, to help her also stand. "Seras," he said softly. "My Seras Victoria. Will you honour me?"

Seras smiled. "You've grown a moustache, Master," she told him.

Integra raised an eyebrow. "What has that to do with anything?" she asked.

Seras shook her head, still smiling happily. "Not a thing," she replied. "Yes, my Master," she told him.

"Excellent!" Harry declared. "Father Anderson, if you please?"

"Er..." Anderson hesitated as the spell over his person was lifted, and allowed him to move his limbs once again. First he had to regain his balance, having been set down on the ground still mid-jump. "It's not exactly..."

"Please, Father," Dracula requested softly.

"Damn it all ta Hell," Anderson grumbled, and pulled out a bible. "I'm killin' you as soon as I've finished marryin' you an' Seras," he informed the ancient vampire.

He chuckled, nodded in understanding, and wrapped an armour-clad arm around Seras' waist as gently as it was possible to, pulling her up to stand at his side in front of the priest.

"I blame you for this," Integra informed Harry, her words light and her voice soft as the impromptu wedding was concluded and the fight begun once more.

Harry shrugged easily with a smile on his face. "I don't mind that," he allowed as he watched the incredible battle unfolding before him.

Tepes fought Anderson, the many bloody souls of his collection gathered around them, and Walter arrived, but he wasn't the old butler he had been. He had defected.

"Shall I kill him as well, my Master?" Alucard asked softly as the fighting paused a moment at this arrival. "It is what he has wanted these past sixty years, to fight against me, to try to kill and in turn be killed by me."

"Yes," Integra answered simply. "Kill what is left of Walter as well."

Harry conjured a goblet and bled himself into it. "No gorging, Tepes," he ordered lightly when the No-Life-King looked just about to do exactly that. "Snacks only until the war is over, and dessert should be waiting at the estate."

"Spoil-sport," Alucard quipped with a chuckle, but ducked out of the fight to accept the cup, rather than simply forcing a halt so that he could drain all the blood out of London.

Seras picked up the fight where her master, and now husband, had left it. She took on both Walter and Anderson while Alucard drained the goblet Harry had filled, making sure they wouldn't be bored with waiting.

Then the original fight resumed once more: Walter and Anderson both against the ancient Nosferatu, fighting each other only as they got in the way of the _one_ they wanted to kill.

Integra took her turn to bleed into the goblet Harry had conjured. When it was full again, Seras slipped in to take over the fight again while Alucard drank deeply of the blood of the one whose family line had for so long held him in bondage.

Harry subtly wandered over to the nearest pike, topped as it was by a still bleeding Catholic, and diverted those red drops into the cup. The great vampire had a great appetite. Two goblets of blood would not satisfy him.

Things got _real_ fun when the remains of Iscariot showed up to provided Anderson with back-up. The army of blood had a few of its members cut down, and Walter's left arm was cut off at the elbow by a large-calibre bullet he hadn't seen coming.

And the Lord and Lady Hellsing were invited into the crashed airship that Walter had exited from.

"Tepes, recall your army," Harry instructed as he conjured a comfortable couch and tugged Integra down to sit on it, blatantly refusing the invitation from the Major. As far as Harry was concerned, _he_ could come to _them_ if he wanted to chat before the fighting on the streets was over. "Do not replenish the ranks until I give leave, but level zero is no longer required. Level two will suffice."

"Understood, my Lord," Alucard answered.

Harry nodded in satisfaction, and summoned some of _Walter's_ dripping blood into the goblet while Alucard obeyed orders – and Anderson surrendered his humanity for the power to _possibly_ defeat the ancient monster. Slowly, Alucard consumed goblet after goblet of carefully chosen blood as he and Seras fought, and the vampires laid waste to all before them until only four remained: Alucard, Seras, Harry and Integra.

Harry stood and stepped up to the monster that was crouched over a destroyed torso, crying tears of blood.

"Tepes," Harry said softly, and lay a hand on the vampire's shoulder. "What do you want?"

"An urn, my Lord, for the Paladin's remains," Alucard answered softly. "An urn with his last words to me written on them."

_Don't cry, Demon. Are the children hiding under your bed? Don't cry, Demon. You became a monster because you didn't want to cry. When humans cry and their tears dry up, they become monsters, dried up inside. So laugh. Laugh with pride and arrogance, like you always do. I will pass on now. You will survive. How long will you be doomed to wander this Earth? You mustn't cry. Remember your prayers before bed. Amen._

Harry transfigured one of Anderson's bayonets into an urn of steel, with the words pressed into the sides in red glass. This urn was then tucked into one of his pockets that was bigger on the inside than the outside.

"Thank you," Alucard said softly.

Harry nodded, and quickly performed another spell.

"Time to face the Major?" Harry suggested lightly as he passed over a goblet full of blood to each of the vampires.

"It is," Integra confirmed. "They are the last few rabid dogs that must be put down."

"You mean apart from the ones we're keeping for Tepes' dessert back at the estate," Harry quipped.

"I admit, I'd forgotten about them," Integra said with a chuckle.

~oOo~

There were more on the airship than just the Major, and the quartet destroyed every pathetic, created vampire that opened fire upon them.

And then there was another, one tall, silent figure that simply stood there as the ship erupted around them. A figure that Alucard knew.

"Something different about this one," Harry noted calmly.

"A werewolf, instead of a vampire," Alucard supplied.

The tall, white-haired and silent nodded at the assessment.

"Huh," Harry grunted. "I know some people who would be very interested to see if they could reverse-engineer the process that made him then, and see if they could then use it to find a cure for _true_ lycanthropy."

"So you look for the laboratory, and I'll confront the Major," Integra suggested.

The soldier lifted a hand to point to a small sign, indicating that they should go a particular direction.

"Such a helpful dog," Integra commented wryly.

"You're due a new dog, aren't you Tepes? Walter was rather unkind to Baskerville," Harry quipped.

Alucard laughed. "What a wonderful idea, my Lord!" he crowed.

"Seras, with Integra. Tepes, you come find me when you've added his soul to your collection," Harry instructed firmly, and stepped up to the little sign. He nodded to himself and headed down the hall opposite the direction Integra would need to go.

"Harry..." Integra said warningly.

"I promise I won't blow up the ship while you're still in it," he answered easily.

"Men," Integra complained fondly. "Seras, why do we put up with them?" she asked the draculina at her side, only half-seriously.

Seras smirked. "Because they're handsome," she answered, completely straight save for the cant of her lips.

Alucard laughed.

~oOo~

"Lord Hellsing," a young voice greeted.

"Schrodinger," Harry answered neutrally.

"Mm," Schrodinger murmured with a shake of his head. "I am only called 'Schrodinger' by the Major and the others, Lord _Potter_," the boy said, emphasising Harry's name. His words were sad and soft, and his accent seemed to be changing as he spoke.

For a moment, he hesitated, and then started again.

"We were given new names, according to what the Doctor was able to turn us into. I developed cat ears quite accidentally, even as I also suddenly had the ability to be everywhere, and nowhere, simply by observing myself. I must observe myself, or I cease to exist. Just like Schrodinger's cat. Imagine, Lord Potter, what would happen if my blood, my soul, this _curse_, was collected up by Alucard in a gorge," the boy said, his German accent now completely gone, the accent of the upper-class Londoner in its place.

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry asked the boy. "What is your real name?"

"Harry... the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries is a very strange thing," the boy said with a sad chuckle. "I went from being your favourite old mutt to being a nuisance kitten who couldn't remember his own past, thanks to the manipulations of the Nazi's. Well... until he saw his godson's face again, older though, since the last time I saw it."

Harry's eyes went wide. "Sirius?" Harry breathed in shock.

Schrodinger nodded sadly. "I _am_ sorry for all the trouble, Pup," he offered. "But come on, the Doc's lab is just over this way, I'll help you spirit everything away, and then we should really get back to... Sweet Merlin, your _wife_! Integra's more of a spit-fire than Lily ever was. How ever did you find her? I'd have figured you'd end up with Hermione or Ginny."

Harry chuckled weakly. "The Queen arranged it," he admitted. "But I've had no cause to complain about it since."

"As long as you're happy, Pup."

"You can't call me that any more," Harry teased, and tweaked one of his godfather's cat-ears. "I'm the one who looks older of the two of us."

"Ah, but I've looked like this since World War Two. It's been horrible! _No-one_ will sell me alcohol!"

Harry laughed.

"And that's not even the worst of it! My part in the Major's crazy plan was to sacrifice myself so that Alucard _would_ get this curse the Doc landed me with! I'm willing to die to protect you, to protect your family, but to smile and slide a knife into my own throat just to kill a warmonger you've got under control? No."

"Hear that, Tepes?" Harry called over his shoulder. "This one's off limits for you."

"Yes, my Lord," Alucard answered as he appeared behind them.

"You have a new dog now?" Harry asked.

Alucard grinned. "Yes, my Lord," he repeated.

"Here's the lab," Sirius said, and pushed the door open.

Harry shrank everything and summoned it into a conjured bag. Then he set the room on fire.

"The war is over now, Tepes," Harry said softly as the trio left the room. "You go and gorge yourself on London until there is not one drop of blood left in it. It will make the clean-up that much easier."

"And Integra? Seras?" Alucard asked.

"I'll send Seras to you, she should have something to eat as well. Integra and I will deal with the Major. Sirius? Can you kill the Doc?"

Sirius nodded his little blonde head. "Won't be hard," he answered. "Consider it done Pup. I'll see you back at Hellsing?"

"If I've made the wards right, you won't be able to get in," Harry returned with a smirk. "You're welcome to piss off the detachment that is still there, waiting to be turned into Alucard's dessert though."

Sirius laughed, gave a cheeky salute, and vanished.

Harry arrived in the same room as Integra in time to vanish the glass between her and the Major, allowing her sword to cut straight through his head.

"Seras, your husband started his meal without you," Harry told her. "And don't forget that dessert is waiting at the estate."

"Yessir!" Seras answered with a grin, and left the Lord and Lady Hellsing alone with the dying Major.

"Come along m'dear," Harry urged Integra as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "We've got _three_ to mind now, they've got their dessert to eat, and I think it's time we try again to bring in a new generation of Hellsings."

"Three?" Integra asked.

Harry sighed. "Schrodinger, he used to be my godfather, before he fell into the Veil of Death, and apparently fell into a Nazi camp as a little blonde boy during the war. Only remembered who he was after seeing me," Harry explained.

"If that's true, then -"

"It's true," Harry insisted. "Some things... some things can't be faked or found out, Love."

Integra nodded. "Alright," she agreed softly. "Three then."

~oOo~

"Arthur James Hellsing!" Integra snapped, her voice echoing through the mansion. "You get back here right this second young man!"

"Can't catch me, Mummy!" chanted back a red-faced five-year-old boy with white-blonde hair and hazel eyes, and then he crashed into another body.

"Oh, but I can," Harry informed his son as he scooped the boy up over his shoulder. "What have you done now?"

"He gave Seras tomato soup," Integra said darkly as she reached her husband. "Alucard is comforting her. She was terrified for a while there that she suddenly couldn't even eat blood any more."

"That was not a nice thing to do A.J.," Harry said sternly. "You're going to apologise to Seras, and you're going to give her a glass full of _your_ blood, and I'll take it from you as she watches. Am I understood?"

"Yes Daddy," Arthur capitulated apologetically.

A giggle came from behind Harry.

"Why did you ever want to give me a younger sibling?" a girl's voice asked, amused. "I thought I was enough of a holy terror to put you both off the idea."

"Jacqueline," Integra greeted with a slight smile and a hint of a sigh. "Back from Teddy's already?"

"Some of Uncle Teddy's Hogwarts friends showed up unexpectedly," Jacqueline answered easily as she stepped away from the wall, revealing a young girl that, as she grew, would undoubtedly land the part of Snow White in any theatrical production, if she cared for the theatre. Pale, with long black hair, and her mother's blue eyes. She was only nine, but Harry could tell already that he was going to end up being a _very_ protective father.

And Alucard and Sirius would probably back him up.

Jacqueline Fairbrook Windgates Potter Hellsing would be _very_ irritated with the men in her life by the time she reached sweet sixteen. For now though, she enjoyed having her father and Sirius wrapped around her little fingers, and Alucard willing to accommodate her if she asked politely.

"Integra, my love, shall we traumatise our children into being good for a little while?" Harry suggested with a hint of a leer.

Integra laughed happily, and smiled as her husband kissed her.

"Ewwww!" both the children yelled.

~The End~


End file.
